Similar
by willowww
Summary: Set after Doctor Falls. After being severely wounded, Missy begins to resign herself to the fate of her likely death - until she is found by River Song. Oneshot.


A/N: Set after The Doctor Falls. This doesn't make an enormous amount of sense in terms of continuity in the actual show but I hope you enjoy regardless.

Her hands burn. Amongst other things.

The attack has left her almost immobile due to the pain. Almost. She grasps at the dirt surrounding her as if it will help her move, and drags her aching, burning body upwards. With one final burst of adrenaline, she manages to throw herself forward on to her hands and knees.

Her knees are weak, as are her arms, and her hands tingle with sharp pains. Yet she continues. She decides that if all else fails, if she dies an embarrassing and painful death, she will still have her dignity. She crawls an inch or so forward, and notes that it may be a stretch to call the slow dragging motion she is attempting dignity.

A rustling of footsteps in leaves comes from nearby, and she wonders naively whether the Doctor has come back for her. She tries to reach out telepathically with what little strength she has left, but nothing comes. This is the aspect of the situation that upsets her the most - losing one of her primary advantages and talents.

She suppresses the voices in her head that tell her that another aspect may be that the Doctor has not come back for her, like she genuinely thought he would. She comforts herself with the thought that she would rather be abandoned by the Doctor, than find him dead.

The rustling steps approach and she ignores them. Moving her paralysed body takes far too much focus to divert it elsewhere. She pauses momentarily, however, as the vibration of telepathy returns to her mind. Although weak and distant, she discovers that the person - who at this point, is simply standing behind her and watching her crawl at a snail's pace - is a bit of human, and a bit of something familiar. A whisper only known to the timelords.

"Do you expect to crawl the whole way, then?" The voice says. It belongs to a female, and Missy recognises who it is in seconds.

"If I must." Missy replies, her words coming out in short pants.

"I can help you." River Song announces, approaching Missy and radiating curiosity and moderate concern.

"You can. But you won't." Missy hisses through bolts of pain, deciding that isolation may be her best choice for any sort of peace and quiet.

"Won't I?" River replies. Her voice sounds neutral, yet Missy can sense the underlying dare in her words.

"I'd kill you first." Missy spits out, the pain growing in intensity.

"Suit yourself." River says nonchalantly, although deep down, Missy can sense her growing curiosity. She won't leave without answers.

"I know who you are. River Song." Missy mutters, giving River a chance to figure it out. She rests back on her knees momentarily to take a pained breath.

"Professor, actually. And how would that be?" River asks suspiciously. Missy likes that she is not very trusting, as she sees it in herself.

"The Doctor's wife." Missy says. She has regained enough oxygen to continue her crawling attempt, but thus far, it has gotten her nowhere.

River pauses as if in thought, and silence echoes through the trees surrounding them, occasionally broken by the blowing of leaves on the wind. "You know him?" She asks.

Missy chuckles darkly. "Know him?" She scoffs. River breathes out an understanding sigh.

"The Master. Mistress." She says softly and expectedly.

Missy almost manages a smile at the mention of her name, but finds the reminder of old times too painful to conjure up a happy expression. "Missy is generally what I go by, nowadays." She whispers. "You're supposed to be dead." She adds, remembering the Doctor's deep sadness once those twenty-four years of night on Darillium were up.

River chuckles humourlessly. "I am, technically." She replies. She notices the questions hanging in the air. "When the Doctor needs me, I come. But I always go back to the library in the end. I can't change history." She explains.

Missy almost feels sorry for her, but pushes that aside. "The Doctor needs you?" She asks, masking any worry in her voice.

"He does. I haven't found him yet." River admits. She sighs slightly. "I just found you first, entirely by mistake."

Missy doesn't ask how River knows that the Doctor needs her, as she feels the same way. With a friendship as long as theirs, she can always sense his pain. Right now, she can sense a lot of it. She wonders whether both she and River feel it the same way. "He's-"

"Dying, yes. I know." River finishes, interrupting Missy's sentence. As if she doesn't want to hear the words out of anyone else's mouth.

"He'll regenerate." Missy replies, to make it seem as though nothing is wrong.

River understands. "I suppose it's lucky I found you, then." She says. Missy raises a questioning eyebrow, prompting River to explain. "The Doctor needs you, as well."

"Needs me to do what?" Missy asks, trying to pull herself up into a more useful position. Pain fills her body, and she is reminded of why she stopped crawling in the first place. River steps close - too close, in Missy's opinion - and places a hand on her shoulder to stop her from moving.

"He doesn't need you to _do_ anything. He needs you. Needs to know you're alright." River explains. "He is in pain. He's dying. He needs the support of his best friend more than ever. Needs to know that you're standing with him." Missy has nothing to reply to that, so River continues with her plan of action.

She gently lifts Missy up, allowing her to rest heavily on her side.

Missy bites her lip to stifle a yell of pain, and it draws blood. Each step invites tears of pain to her eyes, but she immediately blinks them away. If River notices - which she most definitely does - she says nothing.

River drags her to a clearing, where she then uses her vortex manipulator to transport herself and Missy to a strange, medbay like place.

"You should have left me. You should have gone to found the Doctor." Missy whispers into the emptiness of the room, in silence other than the beeping of a monitor and tapping of River's nails against a screen. River turns to face Missy with a frown.

"Regardless of whether I wanted to help you or not, if I hadn't, the Doctor would have never forgiven me - or recovered. I will find the Doctor, and when I do, he will want to see you." She says. She sighs lightly. "Besides. We're pretty similar, you and I." She adds quietly.

Missy has no energy to think of a witty or sarcastic response, and feels her eyelids beginning to become heavy. "I suppose you're right." She settles on, before shutting her eyes completely. River smiles to herself, and Missy can feel it.

"Get some rest." She says gently. Exhaustion seems to take over Missy's body quite suddenly, and she smiles slightly in return to River, before falling into a deep sleep.


End file.
